Friday, 21 September 2012

It was very drizzly on Thursday morning when we returned to last Wednesday's location. We went to Townend Hide first where there were plenty of waders to see. The largest island was covered in Snipe with 2 Spotted Redshank nearby and a Dunlin on the other side of the island. There was a scattering of bog standard Redshank all over the water with a large Heron stalking at the back of the reeds. Some Teal were dabbling and and a Shoveler and a small flock of Gadwall flew West. A flock of Ringed Plover flew west, which was more surprising. We stayed a long time and eventually a Marsh Harrier flew past. 4 Greenshank flew in and the Spotted Redshank left around the same time. Some large fat Plovers flew over, which may have been Grey Plovers, but we're more likely to have been Golden Plovers. Towards the end of our stay about 12 Black-tailed Godwits flew in and started feeding.

All photos on this post (c) 2012 Richard Whateley

Black-tailed Godwits

Snipe

Redshank

Greenshank

Black-headed Gull & Dunlin

Meadow Pipits

It was very drizzly on Thursday morning when we returned to last Wednesday's location. We went to Townend Hide first where there were plenty of waders to see. The largest island was covered in Snipe with 2 Spotted Redshank nearby and a Dunlin on the other side of the island. There was a scattering of bog standard Redshank all over the water with a large Heron stalking at the back of the reeds. Some Teal were dabbling and and a Shoveler and a small flock of Gadwall flew West. A flock of Ringed Plover flew west, which was more surprising. We stayed a long time and eventually a Marsh Harrier flew past. 4 Greenshank flew in and the Spotted Redshank left around the same time. Some fat Plovers flew over, which may have been Grey Plovers, but were more likely to have been Golden. Towards the end of our stay about 12 Black-tailed Godwits flew in and started feeding.

On to Singleton where there were fewer waders, but a lot more ducks. A young Cormorant was on the island, but took off when the Black-headed Gulls moved in. There were plenty of Shoveler and Gadwall, and a couple of Little Grebes.

We missed out First Hide because there was only a Coot and we headed to Marshland. The birds were mainly roosting here with Spotted Redshank, Snipe and a couple of Greenshank being the best of it. Every member of the hirundine family went over with Swallows in the majority, with a few House Martins and even less Sand Martins. Richard spotted a Kestrel hovering in the distance.

Near Xerox I heard a Willow Warbler and then suddenly a flock of mainly Long-tailed Tits appeared with a few Great and Blue Tits in tow.

In the afternoon it became hunt the wader with very few waders to be seen. A pristine Hobby flew right along Singleton, but only Eric and myself (as well as some strangers) saw it. In contrast most people saw great number of Lapwing fly up in the far distance and then at the back of the group the fast wing-beats of a hunting Peregrine could be discerned. It made its way all along Alkborough Flats, and apart from a brief detour to chase a small bird, it carried on heading south east until it was lost to sight. A Marsh Harrier came a lot closer and was particular enjoyed by Gordon. We saw plenty of waders drop into Townend, but when we got there there was nothing. Eventually a Black-tailed Godwit dropped in, at least it was a new bird for the pm session. Eric also later picked up some Bearded Tits, but the rest of us had already left Townend by then. Marshland was much more disappointing than the pm with only a Pied Wagtail, some Snipe and Teal putting on much of a show. Brian spotted some small birds at the back of Marshland - the first were Reed Buntings, but the final birds he noticed were a couple of juvenile Reed Warblers. There wasn't a sign of the best birds last week - all the Ruff seemed to have continued on their migration south. I'm not sure if the poor afternoon was a result of the outgoing tide, or the fact that a lot of places are less interesting after lunch.

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Wednesday was a rerun of last Tuesday with the long slog to Castleford. We were leaving our cars at the Lin Dike car park when a Jay flew over - little did we know that would be one of the best sightings of the whole morning! There were no sign of the Little Grebes from the hide this time, so we had to put up with some nearby Lapwings instead. We could also see Teal, Cormorant, Herons, Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebe, Shoveler and Gadwall. We carried on to another pool we didn't visit last week. There were better views of all the same birds here, with the addition of Little Grebes. A cream crown Marsh Harrier flew fairly close to the hide and we saw at least 3 Buzzards all in the sky at the same time.

Record shot of Kingfisher

ditto

Lapwing

Marsh Harrier

We headed back to the visitor centre and passed a parked car on the road with the distinctive figure of a bird forum member standing next to it. He was staring into the sunshine through his scope and was about to fix on to an eclipse Garganey. It seemed a rather dangerous place to leave 3 more vehicles, so we carried on to the visitor centre. When we get there we had a look at the kingfisher screen with no result, and had a scan from Pick-up hide, but there was little of excitement to see there either.

Siskin

As last week the Lin Dike area was much less productive in the afternoon, and it was so poor this morning I thought I'd better not go there again after lunch. The afternoon group had a look from Pick-up Hide where there wasn't a great deal to see, but Les did very well to locate a distant Snipe, but his young Moorhen wasn't anything to write home about. A possible Little Owl wasn't definitely confirmed. We went to the Kingfisher screen, and sure enough after only a few minutes we saw a very active immature male Kingfisher. Eventually, it flew very close to the hide, perching only a few feet away from us. Some people had only seen them whizzing past, so this was their best ever sighting, and I think it's the best example I've seen this year.

Record shot of Willow Warbler

Shoveler in Eclipse

Comma

Unusual Bee Species

We carried on the long hike to Bob Dickens hide. This was almost completely bereft of birds, though we did encounter a Long-tailed Tit flock which were accompanied by a single bright yellow juvenile Willow Warbler. When we got to the hide there was an enormous flotilla of Coots, plus many of the same water birds we'd seen in the morning. There was an eclipse Shoveler, which displayed some extraordinary colours because of a large number of missing feathers. Eileen and Sally both shouted out at the same time when they spotted another Kingfisher flying low over the water on the far side of the lake.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

On Tuesday the group arrived in good time to witness some birds being ringed at Spurn by Paul & Adam. We saw 3 young Tree Sparrows being ringed after they had been trapped in mist nets. Paul was able to show the group differences between a Tree Sparrow hatched much earlier in the season with one born more recently. The youngest one did not yet have a nice chocolate brown cap or its beauty spot. Both of them still had the remains of their yellow gape.

Juvenile Black Kite

ditto

ditto

ditto

Meadow Pipit

Sheep headbutting a Yellow Wagtail

Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

Common Lizard

ditto

Hawker eating a fly

We travelled quite a way down the peninsula to a Heligoland trap to observe other birds being ringed. At wire dump there were about 4 ringers waiting, but no birds. We waited quite a long time and although several Meadow Pipits approached the trap they showed very little inclination to enter. However, eventually one was trapped and recovered. Its measurements we're taken and it was weighed, and then some of the salient points on why it was a young Meadow Pipit were made clear. The bird's extraordinary hind claws were also pointed out to the amazement of the class.

After the ringing we had a look from Chalk Bank hide, but the tide had long gone out, so nothing was very close. A man in the hide reported a Manx Shearwater being ripped apart from gulls, but he later changed his story to say it was a Guillemot. Some Curlews, Oystercatchers and Sanderlings were spotted in the mud, and in the far distance was a mass of what looked like white pebbles, which must have been Knot.

We cut our losses and went north to Canal Scrape hide. Three was very little here apart from a moribund juvenile Kestrel and a Meadow Pipit. Later, a Pied Wagtail and then a juvenile Yellow Wagtail were spotted. The latter was under the feet of the sheep at first, but when they moved nearer it followed them, so everyone was able to get a closer look.

We were watching the Kestrel take to the air when a large raptor hove into view to the very right of our vision. At first it looked like a Marsh Harrier, but nothing fitted, and then I caught a quick view of an apparent vent in the tail, and i realised it was a kite. It clearly wasn't a Red Kite, so I called it as a Black Kite. I took a few shots, and then ran to the car for the radio. It had been observed by the others, and they were frantically giving out its latest position to a Spurn regular who was speeding to the site, so he could get on to it. It headed north, and as far as I know disappeared between Kilnsea and Easington. Some of us at the time noticed what appeared to be in lump in its throat, or gizzard.

Just before the afternoon session started a Hobby zipped through, heading south. Then we went to Kew Villa to see any birds being ringed after being caught in their mist nets. Just before Kew Villa the group watched a large Hawker dragonfly eating another insect. The first bird we saw being ringed was a Blue Tit. This was a young bird, and was probably born elsewhere, as all the local birds have already been ringed. Although the only other bird they saw being ringed was a Dunnock, they were able to ask plenty of questions and find out lots of information about birding.

We walked the triangle and saw a couple of Wheatears being severely battered by the wind. There were Redshank on the estuary, and some Golden Plovers, but the light made seeing another birds very dissimulation, especially in the very uncomfortable winds. A visit to Canal Scrape was not very eventful, so we made our way back to the car park. To end on a positive note our visit raised £80 for Spurn Bird Observatory Trust.

Monday, 17 September 2012

This weekend was the Wolds Walking Festival, and I was involved in at least one event on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On Saturday 5 individuals turned up in beautiful warm and sunny weather: one couple from Helmsley, another from Beverley, and one local inhabitant of Thixendale. We walked down the hill from Robert Fuller's Gallery, but were unable to find the Tawny Owls, which usually inhabit these sycamores. In fact any sort of birdlife was noticeable by its absence. I had to fill in by talking about our local Swallow behaviour, plus the latest news of what was happening on the birdfront at Spurn, Blacktoft and other East Yorkshire sites. Needless to say there was no sign of the local Little Owls either. The only birds seen at this stage were Woodpigeons flying over. However, flying closer to us was a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, which did give good views as it hunted for insects along the hedgerow, and almost seemed as large as a Goldcrest! We were a long way from any appreciable water, but these can be long distance fliers.

Barnacle Goose

Red Kite being mobbed

At the bottom of the hill we took a right turn on to the Wolds Way. A tilled field was covered with Red-legged Partridges - possibly as many as 10. The Yellowhammers, and Meadow Pipits which had been so vociferous in the Spring and Summer had all gone quiet, and it wasn't until we went through the second gate that things picked up. We were watching a hovering Kestrel as it hunted for voles in the long grass in the steep slopes of the dale. It plunged into the verdure several times, but when it rose again, there was nothing in its talons. As we observed this young bird, I could hear the high-pitched telltale sounds of a Treecreeper in the mature Ash trees behind us. We swung round and everyone was able to spot the bird as it inched its way up the main trunk of the tree, before it spiralled round to the back of the trees, and it was lost to sight.

Cream-Crown Marsh Harrier

Migrant Hawker

Bracket Fungus

Stoat

Stoat

We hadn't gone much further when there was a strange sound above us. At first the only birds I could see were a couple of gulls flying north, but then I spotted a bird of prey. A Buzzard seemed to be the most likely candidate in this habitat, but through the binoculars it was uniformly dark brown despite the tattiness of many of its feathers. It was a Marsh Harrier. Later, we heard that the gulls and the Harrier had been in a brief skirmish, which was the origin of the unusual sound. We carried on to the sight of a baffling turf sculpture, which apparently looks much better and explicable from the top of the hills. While the turf sculpture was being explained to us by the local inhabitant a bright orange Comma butterfly flew south. Fairly soon after this a genuine Buzzard came into view - its mixture of dark wing edges and central white patches were in marked contrast to the earlier bird. On the return journey we could hear Swallows twittering and House Martins "farting", but our best birds had definitely been on the Wolds Way. We passed BBC Look North's Simon Clark and friend making the most of the nice weather by walking part of the Wolds Way. The Cirrus clouds looked fine against the blue sky, but they didn't bode well for the weather on Sunday...

5 individuals again turned up for the Sunday Wolds Red Kite Roost event. Unfortunately my sat nav led the attendees from Robert Fuller's Gallery on a circuitous, but picturesque route seemingly all over the wolds. However, we did eventually arrive at the viewpoint. At first it seemed very few birds were present apart from some very noisy female Mallards opposite our site. However, a Heron flew through, which was a sign of better things to come. Unfortunately, it was spitting with rain, so I didn't expect too many birds of prey. It wasn't too long before our first Red Kite appeared to the right of the site, spotted by a Pocklington couple. It flew over the woodland and disappeared to the left and below a very distinctive tree. We then enjoyed sightings of several lone birds, sometimes they appeared distantly over the brow of the wooded hillside. On other occasions they began to emerge in the far distance in the north, but always making for the same general area. At least 2 birds showed interest in a green field, which may have hosted some carrion, but the roost site seemed to be the favoured area with all the other birds. Another Heron made its distinctive slowly flapping flight over the woodland - seemingly with a wingspan only marginally greater than some of the Red Kites we had been watching. Unfortunately, the lowering clouds began to look ever more threatening. At one time 4 birds could be discerned in the northern distance through what looked like mist, but this was the first sign of a more significant shower of rain moving in. We decided to call it a day, but we had seen over 10 Red Kites flying into the woodland.On Monday we revisited Friday's location in worse light, so there were fewer photo opportunities. North Cave Wetlands seems to be a fairly well-known site locally, so it was an unusual experience to introduce the venue for 5 people (100% of the attendees) who were trying it out as part of the Wolds Walking Festival. The birds and dragonflies we saw today were very similar to those last week. A mammal highlight were 2 Stoats - one running towards us, and another running away. The Barnacle Goose showed really well, but seemed a very isolated individual, and was virtually the last bird we saw, so brought the session to a fitting end. Please see Friday's photos here: Friday

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Bookings for the 10-week Spring term has started. At the time of writing there are a couple of vacancies on Thursday afternoons, followed by Wednesday afternoons and Friday afternoons. I'm afraid I cannot take any more bookings on the Tuesday morning or Friday morning sessions. If you are interested in another session, please ask. For at least 2 hours a week encounter the natural world as a completely new sensual experience. You'll be amazed what you'll find just by listening, and not only by looking! In the Spring we'll be paying special attention to birdsong. If you want help sorting out your Sedge Warblers from your Reed Warblers, and pointing out the differences between singing Blackcaps and Garden Warblers then this is the place to be. We are going to locations where you will hopefully see, and not just hear Cuckoos. We are also planning to visit sites with Turtle Doves, Redstarts and other special summer visitors. So, if you are interested in learning more about your local wildlife in beautiful and secluded venues for less than £10 a week, then this is the course for you! We visit a different local hotspot each week and identify all the birds and as much other wildlife as we can. This also includes mammals, and fungi with butterflies, and dragonflies. The course runs twice daily Tuesday to Friday. If you are interested in more details of the course, or wish to be placed on a waiting list, please leave a comment next to one of my posts or email me on mflowers81@live.co.uk

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